Chap. III. VARIETIES OF BIRDS AND INSECTS. 65 



busy from morning till night. Some of the acacias possess a 

 peculiar attraction for one species of beetle ; while the palm 

 allures others to congregate on its ample leaves. Insects of 

 all sorts are now in full force ; brilliant butterflies flit from 

 flower to flower, and, with the charming little sun-birds, 

 which represent the humming-birds of America and the 

 West Indies, never seem to tire. Multitudes of ants are 

 hard at work hunting for food, or bearing it home in 

 triumph. The winter birds of passage, such as the yellow 

 wagtail and blue drongo shrikes, have all gone, and other 

 kinds have come; the brown kite with his piping like a 

 boatswain's whistle, the spotted cuckoo with a call like 

 " pula," and the roller and horn-bill with their loud high 

 notes, are occasionally distinctly heard, though generally 

 this harsher music is half drowned in the volume of sweet 

 sounds poured forth from many a throbbing throat, which 

 makes an African Christmas seem like an English May. 

 Some birds of the weaver kind have laid aside their winter 

 garments of a sober brown, and appear in a gay summer dress 

 of scarlet and jet black ; others have passed from green to 

 bright yellow with patches like black velvet. The brisk little 

 cock whydah-bird with a pink bill, after assuming his summer 

 garb of black and white, has graceful plumes attached to his 

 new coat ; his finery, as some believe, is to please at least 

 seven hen birds with which he is said to live. Birds of 

 song are not entirely confined to villages; but they have 

 in Africa so often been observed to congregate around villages, 

 as to produce the impression that song and beauty may have 

 been intended to please the ear and eye of man, for it is 

 only when we approach the haunts of men that we know 

 that the time of the singing of birds is come. We once 

 thought that the little creatures were attracted to man only 



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